Screentime
Olympics Ratings Slump Forces NBC to Haggle With Advertisers
- Broadcaster offers ‘make goods’ to compensate the sponsors
- Olympics viewership down 42% near halfway through competition
Since the opening ceremony of the Olympics last week, NBC has been busy negotiating with anxious advertisers, offering ways to make up for the games’ steep drop in viewers, people familiar with the matter say.
Haggling over “make-goods” isn’t unusual in TV. But the discussions show that NBC’s ambitious Olympics effort from Tokyo is drawing a smaller audience than the broadcaster or advertisers expected. With the coverage nearing its halfway point, average nightly viewership through Tuesday was down 42% from the 2016 Summer Games across all of NBC’s outlets.